


Shades and Clockwork (An Origional WoW Story)

by Jacearts



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: (It's nothing explicit but. Ye.), And coming to terms with emotions, Angst, Depression, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Abuse, Minor Self Harm, Multi, Panic Attacks, Scars, The story is just her processing trauma lbr, heavy depictions of trauma, minor drug misuse, tldr Sunny has been through a lot and it's all gonna come out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25872700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacearts/pseuds/Jacearts
Summary: Sundavar "Sunny" Wyrda  is just trying to live her life. She didn't ask for dream demons, multiverse doppelgangers, or other mystical shenanigans! Surviving in Azeroth is hard enough. It's all she can do to survive one day to the next, but perhaps she can find someone to support her along the way...This is a work based on roleplay in World of Warcraft between myself and predominantly one friend, who has consented to me adapting rp logs. Sunny is my own character, i'll reference others when used. Writing this mainly for my own enjoyment but, my rp partners enjoyed it so maybe other people will too!Relm Kiroore and Haestone belongs to Relm(Note that because this is inspired by RP, I have two full arcs prepared. I'm just a slow-ass writer so it may take a while.)
Relationships: OC/OC
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	1. Don't Do Drugs, Kids

_ Daybreak comes with the devil’s hum, a carcass starts to breath. Wakes one more time to try and find a place to count it’s teeth. _

* * *

Booty Bay could be described as a lot of things. Cramped, claustrophobic streets that wound their way up the battered cliffside, held together with ropes and scaffolding and generally looking like the whole thing could come crashing down at any moment. Ramshackle, that was a good one. Livly, boisterous, perhaps even dangerous. It was a pirate town, after all. One of the last true ones.

A word  _ not _ typically associated with it would be  _ calming _ . And yet so it was for one Sundavar “Sunny” Wyrda, sat perched atop the ruins of some ship flung into the cliffside and simply left there as decoration. While not what the half-elf truly thought of as her home, it was the closest she got these days. A tiny two-room apartment can feel like the world when you’re accustomed to living out of grubby tavern common rooms with nothing but the clothes on your back. Despite the particularly difficult memories she had of this town, it still made her feel a damn sight safer than anywhere else.

She leaned back, tilting her battered leather hat low to shield her eyes from the sun and taking a long drag on her cigar, savouring the soft, pleasant burn. Well. Perhaps  _ calming _ had been an overstatement. She was honestly beginning to question if she was even capable of feeling calm, anymore. It was a feeling frequently drowned out by growing anxiety and guilt. That latter had grown particularly loud of late. She’d found herself working with a particularly…. _ questionable _ group. Not that they were criminal, that she could handle. No, they were simply dealing in matters she considered well above her paygrade, and for some godsdamned reason wanted her involved.

Tonight had been the pack that broke the kodo’s back. She had been invited along to the Brotherhood of Bloodmoon’s “initiation ceremony”. Honestly everything about that damn title should have tipped her off that getting involved was a bad idea. She had a strict policy of not associating with cults. But damnit, they seemed like decent folks! Doing big timey hero saving the world such nonsense, what would it hurt if she happened to sell their leader some smokes a few times?  _ Well _ . Seemed she had caught his eye and that was not something she was comfortable with. Particularly not when aforementioned initiation apparently involved  _ blood drinking _ . Yeah, she was out.

...And yet? The guilt over that still gnawed at her. That feeling of inadequacy, of cowardice. That if she just  _ tried,  _ If she pushed herself past her boundaries perhaps she could actually do something useful with her life. And that deep seated self loathing over the knowledge that she never would. Survival came first. She was a smuggler and a salesperson, those were things she was good at. She knew how to do it and keep her life. She wasn’t about to get caught up in some convoluted magical shenanigans.

Oh, famous last words.

She wasn’t even really surprised when the figure practically fell out of the sky, landing with a thump on the deck beside her. The fact that she wasn’t should really have been setting off more alarm bells, she thought, but spending any amount of time with the Brotherhood seemed to desensitize you to things like this. Still, she jumped a little and blinked up through the glaring sunlight, vaguely catching the shape of one of those oversized plaguebat monstrosities people insisted on flying around.

“...Dude, I am so fucked up right now.”  
She turned and stared at Relm, the gears of her brain frantically trying to click back into place and process the developing situation. Relm Kiroore was among the only members of the Brotherhood she had a shred of trust for. Perhaps it was the fact they were both half-elves something that came with its own specific flavour of trials and discriminations. Or simply just that they clicked. Relm seemed to be one of the only people in the group willing to listen to her when she (repeatedly) explained how fucking ridiculous their plans could be.  
“What? Stop looking at me like that and pass me your bottle.”

She blinked dumbly, nonetheless passing along the half-drunk whiskey. A grand gesture of friendship indeed, if only Relm knew. She squinted as the woman took a long drink right from the neck “...You’re a damn death knight. Far as I know y’can’t get drunk if yer dead.” Relm didn’t reply immediately, holding up one finger as she continued to down the drink before finally handing back the much depleted bottle with a contented sigh.  
“Hey, the Forsaken make some shit that can get me there. But, regrettably you’re right. Can still feel the burn, though.”

Sunny snatched the bottle back, finishing what little was left for her before tossing it to the side. “Rough night for you to huh?”  
“Well, let’s see.” Her voice sounded deceptively cheery but there was a clearly bitter, mocking tint to it. “My child was taken, my only source of therapy has gone AWOL, and I just spent an entire godsdamned mission being insulted by subordinates. All because I was trying to get my kid  _ back _ .” She didn’t bother to hide the edges of anger and despair in that last part, and Sunny could only listen and stare.  
“...Fuuuuck me. Gods, now I feel like a prick for mopin’...I’m so sorry, Relm. That was the kid I met at the fair?”  
Relm nodded slowly, not even looking at her “Zephyr.”

“Shit, I...im so sorry, man.” The words felt hollow but nontheless seemed to spill out of her, at the forefront of an unexpected rush of emotion. It wasn’t like her to be so open with her feelings, she wasn’t even  _ that _ drunk yet, but her heart genuinely went out to her. Children had always been something of a soft spot for her; having a rough childhood oneself makes it difficult not to empathise. And Relm herself was something of a focus for her guilt; She didn’t understand the full of it, but she had attended her damn  _ funeral _ . The woman had  _ died _ , again, in service to the Brotherhood in a battle that Sunny had been asked to contribute to, but hadn’t. Of course it was unlikely she would have been able to do anything. What the fuck was a single alcoholic thief going to do against what sounded like the armies of darkness? But it still gnawed at her. She felt some kinship with Relm, and the thought that maybe, just maybe if she had been there....perhaps it was a moot point, given her as yet unexplained re-resurrection, but it stung nonetheless. She felt indebted to this woman somehow, and Sunny  _ hated _ feeling indebted.

Presently, Relm shook her head a little “It’s fine.” It very clearly was not. “Not much you could do, unless you’re hiding any hard drugs on you. I just...wanted company that isn’t Brotherhood. And you’re not so bad.”

Sunny froze for a second, squinting at Relm “...Funny you should mention that.” And then she winced, because suddenly Relm’s eyes were on her, searching “H-hey, listen, ain’t the sorta shite I normally fuck with, yeah? But, well. All that crap earlier with the fuckin’, blood cult or whatever your boys are into, an’ me bottlin’ it. I just…” She trailed off and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly aware that she was rambling under that heavy Mom Look. Sighing, she reached into one of her coat’s many pockets and procured a small vial of dark, iridescent liquid the consistency of ink, keeping it in her palm and only quickly flashing it to Relm before closing her fingers around it protectively. She met her eyes, just for a second before staring at the ground, a hint of shame burning in her cheeks “...was plannin’ on, y’know. Drownin’ my sorrows, like. Mate’a mine suggested this. Some new hot shite in Stormwind right now or somethin’...anyway. As I said, wouldn’t normally mess with it, but. Well. You look like y’need it right now too.”

Relm simply stared, incredulous “...Is that what I think it is?  
“Hard drugs? Yes.”  
“No, Sunny! It-” she leaned over, gesturing for her to pass the vial. In her defence, she only hesitated for a second. Relm rolled her eyes as she held it up to the light, eyeing it’s contents “...Sunny, this is Shimmer.”  
“Oi, oi! Don’t go flashin’ it around like that! Laws around here might be questionable but that don’t mean some prick ain’t gonna try and make a grab for it!” she huffed, “Sure, that’s what‘e called it. Mean somethin’ to ya?”  
“I don’t know the details. Just that the Brotherhood’s sister branch operating in Stormwind have been trying to source it. Something about the people that use it being attacked.”

Sunny narrowed her eyes “Didn’t tell me nothin’ ‘bout that part. This some sorta supernatural shite or just the regular dealers bein’ bastards type’a attacks?” Relm simply shrugged in response, flipping the cap off the vial with her thumb.  
“No idea. One sure-fire way to find out, though.”  
“You’re shitting me. You just told me you don’t know what this shit does and now you- Hey!” ignoring her protests, Relm went ahead and took a swig from the vial, grimacing as she swallowed and handed the remaining contents back.   
“Ugh...I don’t know what i was expecting, but that tastes vile.”

Sunny glared at her, then snatched it back “That’s the height’a fuckin’ rudeness, y’know. A mate buys you drugs, you at least let’em take the first hit.” She eyes the contents, trepidation creeping into her voice “...Normally I don’t fuck with anythin’ you can’t smoke. Seen some messy shit, yeah? But…” She shoots Relm a look “Not like I can let you take the ride alone is it?” and then with a smirk, she chugs down the remaining contents.

The two sat in silence for a minute, watching the sun set against the waves. Definitely a good choice of view to get high to, Sunny thought, though making her way back home may prove something of a challenge. The liquid had left an acrid tasting coating on her tongue and she quietly mourned that she hadn’t brought more whiskey, especially since she wasn’t feeling any effects.

“Hey Sunny?” She glanced over to Relm, and all at once she felt the hit. As her head turned, it felt like the world around her started to bleed away. Or rather, it’s colours did, only to shift and blend into new forms. The sky above them was a deep, roiling black, dotted with dazzling bright pinprick stars of all colours, though she was sure that not enough time had passed for the sun to set. And looking at Relm, it felt as though the contrast of the world had risen; colours popped more vividly against a background that shifted like oil. “Are you sure y-...that you... _ oh.” _

Sunny just turned and grinned at her, her trailing off and the rather spaced out look on her face telling her that she too was feeling the effects of the drug. “Riiiight? S’like. Stoned but. Wavier ‘n shit.” she knew she was slurring but she didn’t care. She simply lay back on the ground and stared up at the sky, her body feeling like it was floating on the inky ocean surrounding them, and let it wash over her.

Absorbed in the sensations as she was, she didn’t pay much mind as Relm shakily got to her feet and began to wander around the secluded wreck, though she did catch the look of childlike glee on her face and it made her smile.  _ Good. Girl’s been through hell, she deserves to let go for a bit. Y’did good, Sunny. _

That thought, predictably, was not to last.

“...Hey. Sunny? D’you…can you see that too?”  
“Suuure, sure…” she slurred, not actually looking up, “Stars an’ shite…”  
“N-no the- I mean, yes, but.  _ Look _ .” Something in Relm’s voice stirred something in her, a note of anxiety souring the pleasant haze and she shoved her hat out of the way, glancing around for a moment before figuring out where Relm was, and then she frowned.

In front of Relm, a few feet away, stood…. _ something _ . She would have been hard-pressed to describe it while sober, truth be told. It was humanoid certainly, with childlike proportions but strange, elongated limbs and pale gray-white skin. It’s body was completely smooth and featureless except for a pair of round, jet-black eyes and a toothy smile. As she watched, Relm tilted her head to one side and the creature mimicked the move, shuffling a little closer to her. Somewhere in her gut alarm bells started ringing, but in her current state all she could think was,  _ hey it’s kinda cute! _

“Oh... _ shit _ , yeah I see it! Hey lil guy...oh here’s another one.” She pushed herself into a sit with some effort as a second, identical figure crawled towards her. “ _ Heyyy… _ Relm, I never seen anythin’ like these before, y’think…y’think this is somethin’ to do with, with the…what?” She trailed off as the figure in front of her made a little gesture, a wave of it’s tiny, clawed hand that seemed beckoning, inviting her to lean in a little closer. As she did it’s eyes widened, seeming to fill up half it’s face and a little voice at the back of her mind started to whisper,  _ just one little peek. _

“Yeah I, I don’t know? Aren’t hallucinations usually more...you know, unique? What do you even  _ see _ because I see a lil white gremlin thing…” She crouched and leaned forwards to give the creature a gentle poke, just to test if it was really there, when suddenly it hissed and swiped at her arm. Relm let out a cry of her own and stumbled back in surprise, three thin lines opening up along her forearm and oozing thick, milky blood. “SHIT! Sunny! I’m not imagining them! I think, I think we should leave, I don’t- Sunny?”

But Sunny didn’t respond, didn’t even seem to hear Relm’s crys. She shifted to a crouch, staring into those inviting black orbs. She could see herself reflected in them and something called her to look deeper. And she did, why would she resist? She felt a little like she was slipping down a slope but had no real urge to slow herself- until she no longer could.

Her perceptions seemed to shift once more and she was no longer sitting in the warm, comforting darkness. No, a chill was seeping into her bones, deep and sharp and damp and accompanied by the stink of rotted fish and salt. She couldn’t move, her arms chained above her head and trickling blood mixed with rancid water down her. And the  _ pain. _ The pain was back. Her hands were numb, the only thing she could feel above her was the icy bite of steel into exposed muscle, her full weight bearing down and causing it to scrape yet more skin away with the slightest movement. Her back was on fire, a hundred separate licks from the lash stinging maddeningly. And there was a deeper ache, too, something she would never have the words to describe. Something at her very core.

She was there again. In the Hole. The birthplace of her angriest of scars, both inside and out. And for the longest, most horrible of moments, she truly believed she would never leave again.

“ _ Sunny!  _ What are you- fuck!” wether it was her own dead, sluggish system or the adrenaline of injury, the euphoria of the drug had all but left Relm. She drew the blades ever present at her sides and swung a somewhat clumsy lunge at the beast in front of her, enough to draw a thin line across it’s chest as it leapt away. Black, iridescent tar seeped slowly from it and with a start she realised it looked  _ Exactly _ like…”It’s their blood?!” she murmured in shocked disbelief, then made a face of disgust, realising what she had drunk. “Sunny, are you-?”

But no, Sunny was not. Whatever question she was about to ask died on her lips as she turned to see the other creature, stretching itself over Sunny’s hunched form and seemingly peering into her very soul. Sunny herself did not seem to hear Relm, did not seem to even be aware of her presence; she was frozen on the spot, her face contorted in a look of such sheer horror Relm’s heart almost broke. It didn’t take much to figure out what was responsible.

With a cry of anger, Relm lunged towards them and swung her blade in a short, neat arc, severing the creature’s head from it’s body in a single smooth move. The instant it was removed, the creature seemed to dissolve in on itself, leaving behind a small puddle of Shimmer. Almost the same second, Sunny lunged backwards with a wordless cry, eyes wide and breath coming in short, panicked gasps. Her eyes flicked over Relm but there was no recognition in them, no spark. 

“Shit...what the hell did that thing do to you, Sun…?” she tentatively reached for her shoulder intent on gently pulling her back to reality, but  _ gently _ simply wasn’t to be. With a scream of blind fear and rage, her friend snatched a knife from her belt and swung it wildly, scrambling away from her as she did. Relm didn’t even have time to react, only to give a small cry of surprise as the edge dug into her chest scraping a jagged line up her shoulder before she could pull away. “Damnit Sunny, snap out of it! It's me! It’s Relm!”

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME.” 

The raw emotion in that strangled, desperate yell took Relm aback. Sunny could be hot-headed, true, quick to lose her temper, but this was different. There was a desperation and intensity in her voice that Relm had never heard before. “I WON’T GO BACK,” she continued, drawing another knife and holding them in front of herself defensively. Her entire posture spoke of a wounded animal, and indeed she seemed to flinch with every movement though no wounds were in sight. Relm shook her head slightly, lifting her own swords to her sides in a placating gesture and about to set them down, when her eye caught movement in the treeline behind her.   
“It’s okay, it’s- SHIT. GET DOWN.” And in a heartbeat she was barralling past to face the pale creatures, clustering around their wounded brother.

Sunny felt like she was walking through a nightmare. Old, long buried memories swam up in front of her, wounds opening to match. One moment she was dangling like a side of meat in that filthy cell, the next she was on her knees in front of  _ him _ . The man’s face was ugly, broken in one too many places and streaked with spits of her own blood. He still held the flog in one hand, and spoke something unintelligible as he raised it towards her with a cruel grin.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME.” She screamed and started to scramble back, finding with some surprise that her knives were at her belt. She yanked one out, fighting through the agony of closing her mangled hand around it, and swung wildly at her tormentor. But the apparition faded as quickly as it had appeared, offering no satisfaction. Now she was in the tunnels that snaked beneath the city, stalked by his armed and faceless lackies. “I WON’T GO BACK,” she yelled again, fumbling another blade from her belt as figures seemed to close around her. “I won’t, I can’t…” she continued to mumble under her breath to no-one in particular, “I’ll die first.”

And then one of the figures charged into her, laughing in her face, and she lashed out wildly again in response. For the briefest of moments she thought she could hear a woman yelling but then it was gone, and half a dozen more were charging her. She screamed, once, an almost feral cry of fear and  _ survival _ , and threw herself into the oncoming foes.

Relm should have expected it, really, but the knife plunging into her side as she ran past was definitely an inconvenience. She didn’t even have it in her to be angry, aware that Sunny obviously was not in control of herself right now. But nor could she spare the time to attend to her friend, to try and coax her back into the now. Nearly a dozen of the impish creatures were gathered, all bared fangs and claws, and right now it was her duty to protect the living. To protect her  _ friend. _

As such, she barely paid attention to the other woman’s attacks, simply giving her a wide enough berth to avoid any of her berserk fury. She did register it at the back of her mind though; She had seen Sunny fight before, if only briefly, and it was nothing like this. She was tall, broad shouldered, and though capable of finesse she seemed to favour a fighting style akin to a drunken brawler, all heavy swings and tackles. It gave her a bit of an edge when her enemies began to expect her to be slow and hard, that she could suddenly pull some quick, light-footed move that left them stumbling and open for another rough slug.

This, though. This was nothing like that. She was hunched in on herself, hugging herself whenever she wasn’t swinging, and when she was? It was sharp, erratic. Again the image of an animal fighting tooth and claw for survival came to mind. The panic and pain in her movements was obvious, though the latter puzzled Relm; for all her mindless, careless attacks, Sunny did not seem to have a single scratch on her.

For all their viciousness, the creatures were little more than a nuisance when faced head on. One of them tried to place that same compulsion on Relm that Sunny had obviously fallen victim for, but wise as she was to it’s danger she had simply battered it in the eyes with the hilt of her sword. It took less than a minute of heated, frenzied cuts for the creatures to be neutralised, more of that cursed liquid pooling around them. It took a few seconds longer than that for Sunny to become aware the danger had passed, mindlessly hacking at one of the puddles long after her knife began finding earth instead of flesh. She seemed to finally, slowly be calming down though, her breathing gradually shifting away from panicked gasps to an exhausted pant. When she was certain they were alone again, Relm dropped her weapons and approached, slowly and with her hands out. Like one would an injured dog.  
“Sunny…? Are you calling? They’re gone, you’re safe…”

The woman, normally so rough and defiant, slunk back from her like a scared child. “R-relm? Wh-...where. What did-” her voice shook and wavered like she was on the edge of tears. Her knives were quickly dropped, forgotten in the puddle as she rubbed and clawed over herself, her back, her arms, her shoulders. She kept staring at her hands and wrists in confusion, as though expecting to find something that simply wasn’t there. “I-i don’t...he was...I looked in it’s eyes a-an’-”

This time, she didn’t resist as Relm crouched next to her and placed a hand on each shoulder, though she did still flinch away as though expecting to be struck. A wave of sadness and pity stirred within Relm, but she swallowed it down. It would only burn Sunny’s pride when she recovered enough to remember. “Hey, it’s okay. Yeah, I...I don’t really know either. I think they were drawn to the drug? But, I dunno about you, it’s pretty much worn off now. They’re gone.” She smiled a little, reassuringly, and Sunny nodded. Then her eyes caught on Relm’s wounds. The advantage of not having a pulse was that she didn’t bleed much, but the murky white blood still bubbled a little where the skin had broken. Deep, nasty cuts for anyone living, but she barely even felt them.

But Sunny wasn’t to know that. And her heart sank as she saw the realisation, and then guilt creep into her eyes. “Oh...gods, Relm I, I’m sorry, I-”  
“Hey! Hey, no, it’s okay, I’m okay, you didn’t-

But it was too late. The damage had been done. Sunny squirmed out of her grip, scrambling back along the ground before managing to find her feet and rambling the whole time “I’m sorry, I, shit, I fucked up, I’m, I didn’t, I need to go,” and before Relm could do more than raise a hand to stop her, she turned and practically sprinted back towards the noq softly glowing lights of the bay.

Sighing heavily, Relm slowly pulled herself to her feet and surveyed the area; dark stains, a few pools of dangerous hallucinogenic that  _ someone _ would have to clean up. And, once again. She was alone. For a second, the weight of all that had happened that night pressed down on her, and she almost broke herself. Then, she took a deep breath, and got to work. Hopefully Sunny would be willing to talk, given some time.


	2. Piss Off, Ghost.

A few short hours later Sunny sat slumped in the grungiest bar in the bay, a good bottle or two on her way to absolutely shitfaced. She was in her favourite spot, at the corner atop a small elevated bridge that connected the top levels. It gave her a clear view of the main entrance, a darkened corner to hide in, and a wall to keep her back to. All the essentials.

The rum was beginning to put a dent in the come-down, but to her dismay it wasn’t doing nearly enough for the afterimages. Sunny was no stranger to panic attacks; she woke to one most days and on occasion as much as a light touch on the wrist was enough to send her spiraling, but this one had been so much more. Flashbacks in of themselves were not foreign to her, but this had felt like she was  _ there. _ In that cell again, living through the days that had led up to her fleeing her hometown - with rare exception- never to return. Her arms and shoulders still ached with ghost pains. Wrists almost always did, but only a little. Not this much. 

That wasn’t even what bothered her the most, though. The memories were all hers, her pain. Of course she did her damndest to try and bury them on a day to day basis, but they were nothing she hadn’t dealt with before, in excruciatingly more pain. What bothered her was  _ Relm. _ She had hurt Relm. The details of it were still a bit hazy, she knew that she had lashed out in blind panic and a few hits had landed on her friend. She also knew, deep down, that she wasn’t really to blame and that Relm herself likely did not hold any animosity over it. But that was logic, and logic seldom had a place in defining one’s own guilt. To her mind, all that mattress was that she had injured one of the few people she counted as a friend. And that was damn near unforgivable in her books.

And so, here she was. One more sorrow to add to the pile she was intent on thoroughly drowning. She took another sip from the bottle. Maybe with enough she could forget how to feel sorry for herself.

One again though, fate seemed to have other plans for her night. She barely glanced up as the bar’s door opened, only to do a double-take as none other than Relm Kiroore wandered in. She was a little cleaned up, having obviously changed clothes and bandaged her wounds, but she looked almost as weary as Sunny felt.  _ Of course. Fucking of course.  _

Sunny slunk back into the corner with a skill born of a lifetime of practice. The angle of her position combined with the general gloominess of the establishment’s lighting made it extremely unlikely Relm would spot her without directly walking past, and even then, but that didn’t stop her from shrinking in on herself and silently wishing she could disappear. The bar itself was almost directly beneath where she sat so she lost sight of Relm as she approached and ordered a drink, but she could still just catch sight of the... _ thing _ that followed her in.

As far as she could tell, Relm was being accompanied by an eight foot tall mass of shadow. It didn’t even look like a person really, just a huge patch of darkness where none should exist. It clearly caught the eye of a few of the other smattering of patrons still drinking at this late hour, but none did more than shoot it a wary glance. After all, this was Azeroth for fucks sake. Probably wasn’t even the weirdest thing they’d seen this week.

Just before whatever it was passed below her line of sight, it finally coalesced into a recognisable figure, from the looks of it a man in a long cloak. Even then though it was impossible to get a good look at him; the shadows continued to swirl around him and it felt like her eyes simply slid right off. A void priest, perhaps? Awful bold of him to be flaunting it like that, if so. Whatever he was, he was someone Sunny did not want to fuck with.

Beneath her, the man approached Relm and slipped an arm around her waist, almost impressively casually given the good three feet height difference. Sunny heard the voice that couldn’t be anyone other than his drifting up, somehow low and soft and heavy all at once. “What is the matter...come, you can tell me.”  
Relm shook her head a little, smiling tiredly “Oh, nothing dear. I was just going for a drink. Bit of a long night.”

Sunny’s blood suddenly turned to ice. Even in her haze, the way Relm was speaking clicked something in her head. She knew who this was. This was  _ Haestone. _ Shit,  _ this _ was Haestone?! Relm had mentioned her husband on occasion, and only in passing. Sunny only really knew the name. From how she had spoken of him, she had assumed he was some scholarly type; gifted in void magic by all accounts, but she hadn’t really given him a second thought. And now it turned out he was a giant fucking mass of mean. Fucking spectacular.

Below, Haestone’s glowing purple pinprick eyes shifted along Relm, settling on her shoulder and arm. “Bandages…?”  
“Oh, uhhh...yeah. I….fell.”  
“...You lie.” He shook his head slowly, leaning down over Relm “You are the worst liar. You know I could just see it in your mind, if you do not wish to tell me.”  
Relm sighed, clearly hesitating, before stammering out “Hae, it. It was nothing, we, Sunny just-”  
“Sunny?” Oh gods oh gods she did not enjoy that voice saying her name no sir. She suddenly felt supremely unsafe. “And who is that?”  
“A friend, Hae!”  
“A friend...and they did  _ that?” _

His voice, if possible, dipped even lower. A hard, threatening hiss. It was at this point that Sunny decided to cut her losses and  _ get the fuck out of there. _ She stood up sharply, making as little noise as possible, and all but sprinted out of the door she had been leaning against. The bar had a second exit, just up the stairs, through the common room, if she was quick she could be out in under a minute and then it was just a matter of finding somewhere to lay low-

Relm continued, the apprehension clear in her voice, “It was a mistake, sweetie, you don’t need to worry about it! She freaked out, she was scared, she-”  
“She stabbed you.”  
Relm slipped her arms into Haestone’s cloak, taking his hand and squeezing them tightly, pleadingly “Please. Please don’t hurt her. I promise it was an accident.” Haestone simply stared, silently in response, and then the pooling shadow of his form seemed to sink into the floor.

...And then, a floor up and three rooms away, Sunny’s shadow shifted unnatureally i front of her. And in a second that eight feet of danger stood between her and the only other exit. She gave a strangled cry, stumbling a few steps back and just, staring up at him.  _ Oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck, Why me?  
_ “...Are  _ you _ Sunny?”

She did her best to swallow down her growing horror. She was not a quick person to scare, but everything about this man oozed threat, hostility,  _ danger _ . Her gut was screaming like a banshee to put as much distance between him and her as physically possible, and it was rarely wrong. “...Got a feelin’ y’already know that, huh? Haestone?” He said nothing, just, loomed over her. A breeze brushed against her cheek from the door, mere feet away. His cloak didn’t so much as flutter. Those two shining stars on a featureless face bore into her and she had the distinct feeling that her entire existence was being measured, and found wanting.

There was a clatter from the stairs and Relm burst into the room, yelling towards her husband “HAESTONE, DON’T!” Then, pausing to try and compose herself, “Haes, Haes please,” she was practically begging at this point, a note of depreciation in her voice that drove home exactly how fucked the other woman was. Sunny swallowed hard, taking a deep breath and willing her voice not to shake “I swear. I didn’t mean to hurt her. It was an accident, this is all a misunderstandin’.” Shee held her hands up placatingly, slowly trying to edge back the way she had come and continuing to murmur “I-it was dumb, I wasn’t in control. It was a mistake, I’m just, I-i’m gonna go-” She was almost at the door. A few more steps and then she could turn and bolt-

Haestone hummed softly, tilting his head to one side as though considering their please. And then he simply evaporated, reappearing the same instant behind Sunny once more and causing her to jump about a foot away from him. “L-LISTEN TO ME! I didn’t mean to fuckin’ hurt her, okay! I already feel awful for it! I didn’t MEAN it, I wasn’t even- I don’t REMEMBER!” Far from being moved by her desperation, Haestone’s face seemed to smirk without his mouth ever truly being visible.  
“You are so very…. _ interesting. _ ” He leaned in, far too close for Sunny’s comfort. “Your fear pleases me…” Behind them Relm seemed to shut down. Her eyes closed and she hung her head   
“.Gods Sunny, I’m so sorry..”

Sunny felt her cheeks burn at that. Underneath it all, all the fear and desperate survival instinct, her pride  _ burned _ . He was fucking toying with her! She let that tiny spark of anger wash over her, grateful for the reprieve however small. She was fucked, she knew she was fucked. But damn if she was going to let him strip away the one thing she had never let go of; her sheer, bloody minded pride.

She willed herself to look up into his eyes, summoning up what little energy she had left. When she spoke, her voice was deceptively calm. Like a prisoner speaking their last words on the way to the noose. “So I’m not gettin’ out of this. Okay. Just do whatever it is you’re going to do.”

If anything, that tiny act of rebellion only served to widen his grin. He stares right back, holding her gaze with such an intensity that she was forced to glance away. “Oh, don’t worry….I won’t do  _ much. _ Still, you hurt something very precious to me. That demands an appropriate punishment, no?”

He leaned in, and Sunny suddenly felt that same compulsion from before, with the imp-creatures. A little voice in her head whispering to look into his eyes. She tried to fight it, she really did, but it was like a maddening itch in her brain and in the end she couldn’t resist. When she finally looked back, it wasn’t the same feeling of falling as before, but she felt like her soul was bared open in stark detail.

“Mmm...What a sad childhood you had,  _ Sundavar.”  _ He stretched out her full name, clearly reveling in the faint twitch it caused her. Gods, she hated that name. Fucking relic of a father that had left her mam and her to rot in poverty. More than that though, there was no earthly way he could have known it. Shit, not even  _ Relm _ had heard it until right now.

Relm, for her part, looked almost as scared. She had abandoned begging Haestone to stop his playing, though, instead just shaking her head and murmuring “Sorry...i’m sorry….gods, Sunny, I’m so  _ fucking _ sorry, I-”

“Relm?” Sunny calmly and looked her dead in the eye, before slowly lifting her hand and extending her middle finger. “Fuck you.” She seemed to deflate at that, holding her hands up and then running them through her hair. Her eyes continued to apologise. Sunny was past caring. She turned back to the mountain of scary and stared, defiantly as she was able to muster, and said in that same eerily calm voice “What’s it matter, right? Can’t do shite to stop yer own man intent on fuckin’ with someone, huh? So just do it. Just get it the fuck over with. Kill me if you’re gonna.” She was a little surprised at the conviction in her voice and then realised, with a start, she really did expect him to kill her. And that was. Okay, she supposed.

Again, he just seemed amused by her anger. He reached out and she was unable to hide her flinch, pressing herself back against the wall. But he simply stroked a hand over her head, thumb brushing aside a few strands of hair from her forehead. His skin felt…. _ wrong _ . No temperature to it, no substance. And when he touched her she felt the faintest jolt, like a spark of static. But then it was gone. He straightened up, ignoring Sunny as though she wasn’t even there and moving to Relm, taking her hand. “Come, my love. Clearly neither of us are wanted here. I do apologise for making you witness such unpleasantness.” He drifted off, half-dragging the incredulous Relm after him. She shot a look in Sunny’s direction, equal parts surprise, relief, and hurt, before the two were out of sight.

And just like that, she was alone. She was alive. She was- no, she sure as  _ fuck _ didn’t feel safe. What little fight she had been trying to maintain bled out of her and her knees buckled, leaving her slipping down the wall. She let out a breath, screwing her eyes tight shut at the threatening prickle of tears.  _ No. Fuck no. He doesn’t get that. _ She scrubbed a hand through her hair, then hugged herself tightly. She felt like she had just barely avoided a very painful end, and yet? It didn’t feel like a victory. It didn’t even feel like she was being spared, it felt like more games. And she  _ hated _ it.

She took another breath, then forced herself to her feet again, stumbling out of the bar. She needed sleep.

_ She was in the Hole again. Just like before. Not a dream, not a memory, she was  _ there _. She wasn’t even sure how long she’d been there. Hours? Days? She hadn’t died yet so it couldn’t have been the weeks it felt like. The lash bit into her back but she barely felt it beyond the fire, instead she cried out as the force knocked her forwards and caused the cuff to scrape over a sliver of exposed bone. _

_ Kiegan’s face loomed in front of her. He was behind her with the whip but in front of her too, behind her eyes any time she tried to shut them. That broken face, twisted into uglyness by the malicious glee in his eyes.  _

_ “You thought you could run away from me, you little bitch?” The whip struck home again. This wasn’t the first session. She couldn’t think clearly enough to count them, but it wasn’t the first. He would leave, attend to actual bussiness, and then come back to toy with her some more.  _ Gods _ , she hated him. She hated it, she hated feeling helpless, more than anything. She was convinced the only thing keeping her alive was sheer spite and determination that she would tear that thirsty look right out of his eyes. _

_ “You aint gonna get to do that though, are ya? You’re never gettin’ out of here.” _

_ She blinked through the pain, eyes darting around for her tormentor, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just his voice. “You can’t get away from me, can ya? After all these fuckin’ years. Y’know why? ‘Cause I’m  _ In _ you. Always will be.” No. No no no fuck you you’re not he never said that this didn’t happen he’s NOT. _

_ “Oh, but I am.” The voice shifted, no longer the harsh, gutteral Common of her old master, but low, smooth. No less dripping with malice. “Because you are mine now, Sundavar. And I will make you suffer for what you did to what is mine.” _

A scream tore through her throat unbidden as she scrambled awake, clawing at sheets that had tightened around her limbs like ropes. Like cuffs.  _ NO. _ Tears streamed down her face as she scratched at her back, at her wrists, at all the places the pain had been coming from. Hard enough to open old wounds, thin lines of blood springing up and, somehow, making her feel a little better. That was how it was Supposed to be, after all.

Eventually, she just held herself and sobbed, long into the morning.


	3. Through a Mirror, Darkly,

_ Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, but not quite. _

Sundavar “Shade” Wyrda dashed into the ruined temple, the crashing scream of battle seeming to dull within the ancient walls, if only a little. The quiet did nothing to sooth him though, and he knew that every second he was gone cost the lives of his siblings, but he had to risk it. He  _ had _ to. She on her own had enough power to wipe out entire swathes of armies if someone didn’t stop her in time.

A little ahead of him, Relm Kiroore knelt upon the dusty stone floor.She looked so calm, a stick of chalk in hand as she drew a series of complex swirling glyphs along the floor; in another time it may even have brought a small smile to his lips to watch her work so intently. If the entirety of Ahn’Qiraj weren't alive with the cries of the dying. If she hadn’t been marked. If things were allowed to be  _ normal _ .

He slowed to a halt before her, the massive sledgehammer in his hand lowering just enough to rest on the ground. Determined though he may be, he didn’t have it in him to strike her from behind. That faintest tap of his hammer seemed to be enough to alert her, and she looked up at him in surprise.  
“...Shade? Gods, Shade, you actually came?”  
His fist tightened around the hammer, the only indication of his discomfort. His voice remained as it always did; low, flat, impassive. “Of course. I told you. Got yer warnin’. You know I can’t let you do this.”

Something flickered in her eyes, and she spoke his name in such a desperate, wavering tone that his heart would have broken were it still capable of beating “Shade..” and then in a blink it was gone. As he had known it would be. Replaced with a malicious smirk. The swirling tattoos that covered her body seemed to flare faintly with red light, the knotted, thorny vines forming such jagged angles against her skin that he suspected they were actually runes, just in a tongue he could never hope to comprehend.  
“Hmm. I had forgotten about that, actually. A small lapse in judgement...honestly, I’m amazed I managed.” She tilted her head, her smile growing teeth “...I must have felt very strongly for you, once. To care enough to break the control.”

Shade didn’t respond, but a knot twisted in his gut at that. Truth be told, their friendship had been...complex. There were deeper feelings there he suspected, certainly on his part, but he was a death knight. He was undead, and she was an alive and vibrant, gifted priest with a life full of opportunity ahead. It hadn’t felt right for him to burden himself upon her, so he had maintained the same cool distance he offered the rest of the Brotherhood. He was a thing, after all, a weapon. He barely had feelings anymore, he wasn’t about to ruin someone else’s life trying to chase after the ghost of them.

And yet, the words were still enough to hurt, if only ever so slightly. It was just one more nail in the coffin though, a confirmation that  _ his _ Relm was gone. Or else, buried so deep beneath the manipulating tendrils of the tattoos controlling her that to end her would be a mercy. So, he simply lifted his hammer, his lich-given strength allowing him to wave the weapon likely heavier than Relm herself as though it were no heavier than a bamboo cane.  
“You warned me. It was enough. I can’t let you summon your shadow army, without it the others have a chance...our _ family _ , Relm,” he tried, not really expecting anything. But still he had to. “A family that still cares about you.”

Relm’s face twisted in a mixture of anger and disgust “ _ Family? _ I suppose that isn’t even far from the truth. Did I ever tell you how my father killed my brother and sister when i was a child?” She hissed, stepping closer to him and starting to raise her arms. Shadowy magics started to swirl around her, and Shade could sense the power in the room starting to grow. He had to act soon if he wanted to stand a chance. “That  _ family _ out there wants me  _ dead, _ Shade. The damn second I was marked, I was as good as a corpse!” Then she sneered at him, her tone turning mocking “I suppose it’s too much to expect a husk like you to understand. You already are one, after all. You’re just too stubborn to drop dead.”

Shade let out a low, soft breath. He didn’t need to breathe, of course; the only reason he had to keep air in his lungs was to speak, and the occasional reflex that hadn’t quite died off yet. But, though he wasn’t able to feel any real pain from it, breathing in stretched his ribs and pressed against the tight bandaging that bound his chest. Funny thing about death, it can’t kill every part of your identity and while permanently altering his body was no longer an option, nor was he at risk of permanent damage. Still, emptying his lungs loosened his chest and shoulders ever so slightly, gave that slight edge of flexibility to his swings.

It was the only warning she got. In an instant he was surging forwards, hammer raised in an overhead smash. Relm’s eyes widened and she barely dodged it, her body seeming to evaporate into smoke for a heartbeat and shifting away even as his hammer flew through it, slamming hard into the ground with enough force to crack the ancient stone. The thrumming pressure that had been building in the room suddenly seemed to stutter and die as her drawn runes were interrupted, and she let out a cry of pure fury. “You FOOL! You can’t fight him! He is coming, and I am one of his heralds!”

She threw her hands at him and a blast of corrosive dark energy pelted into him, enough to make him duck his head behind his arm. Some of it seeped through the eyes of his masked helmet, stinging at him, but he managed to channel his own magics in defense; one of the many dubious “gifts” given to the Lich King’s chosen knights being the ability to form a shell around oneself to protect against all forms of magic. Still, it was an intensive thing to do, and he felt another chunk of his already dwindling energy seep away.

When the haze of magic faded, the two stood staring at one another and time seemed to freeze for that one, short second; Relm, her body smothered in shadows and liquid ink seeming to spill from her tattoos, from her eyes in oily tears, her face contorted in a rage he had never thought to see on her; and Shade, tall, lean, clad in cold, unyielding metal with his face hidden from her but the fiery blue of his eyes. An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

And then it passed. Time ratched into motion again, Relm prepared another blast and Shade threw himself into a swing. It felt slow, impossibly slow, like the air had turned to molasses and both were struggling through it. And then, just as they both seemed about to connect, the world erupted.  The space in front of them seemed to collapse in on itself, a rift opening up like a hole in reality itself. It happened so quickly that neither half-elf had the time to react, both barely able to register it’s existence before they were sucked in and all the light in the world seemed to wink out.

* * *

Just as quickly as it had vanished though, the light returned with a blinding flash and the hard stone rushed up to meet them. Shade hit it with a crash of metal, his heavy plate seeming to press down with five, ten, a hundred times its weight for the briefest of blinks before the pressure eased. He still swore he could feel his bones creaking ominously. A little away from him he heard the air bark out of Relm as she landed, not quite as physically burdened as him but nor as able to endure. As such, he was scrambling to his feet and grabbing for his hammer before she even had time to process the change. Neither had he, truth be told, but there would be time for that later. One problem at a time.

He stepped over with his weapon raised, ready to bring it crashing down but also fully expecting resistance. Relm was under the control of the marks, after all. The one that left them was a threat to all life on Azeroth, and she was lost to him. She would not hesitate to kill him and anyone else, he could not afford to either-

-And yet, hesitate he did. Because when she turned to face him that sickly crimson glow was gone from her eyes and her tattoos. Black ink still stained her skin but it was dry, no longer flowing fresh from her body and the look in her eyes was...hazy, disorientated. But when they met his, there was  _ recognition _ .

So he faltered, caught his swing and drew it away from her.  _ That's it,  _ he thought,  _ I’m done. That’s all the opening she needs. _ But she didn’t retaliate.Just stared at him with equal parts fear, confusion, and unexplainable relief.  
“Sh-shade? Is...it’s you? I’m...Shade, I’m  _ me! _ I can think, I-” she lifted an arm, running her eyes along the dull vines that mapped her “...Shade, I can’t hear his voice anymore. I can’t- Shade, he’s  _ gone! _ ”

He wanted to believe her. Sweet merciful Light, he wanted to. Her voice was so hopeful, so elated to be free and in control again. But he couldn’t, how could he? This could be another manipulation, another power play-  
“What did you do.”he said, trying to hide the shake in his voice. Emotion was a tricky thing for him, now. It came so weak and infrequent that when he truly felt something, it was difficult to process. Only now, wary but suspecting the immediate threat had past, did he realise that the sounds of battle from outside had died completely. He could only think of one thing that could mean, and it was  _ not _ good.

Relm blinked and faltered, staring at him with something approaching hurt. “What did I- aren’t you listening?! Anything getting through that thick helmet you love so much?” She huffed, pouted a little in a way that was so  _ Relm _ . It chipped another shard of his doubt away. “I didn’t do anything! I don’t...I’m not sure what happened….” She trailed off, looking around the room, and then staring in confusion at the floor. Shade followed her gaze, and with a start realised immediately what was wrong.

Her glyphs were gone. Though damaged by his attack, lilac chalk had still marked a good portion of the centre room and no amount of scuffing through combat could have erased it completely in the handful of seconds they had been distracted. It didn’t even look to be the same floor, cracked with age yes but not from the titanic smash of Shade’s hammer.

Their eyes met again, just for a moment, and then Shade was sprinting out of the ruin, He had to check outside, see the armies still clashing, he had to make sure the Brotherhood hadn’t been overwhelmed-

But when he reached the entrance, he stepped out into a vast, empty courtyard. The desert wind blew the choking sand of Silithus into him, into his armour, into his eyes. Everywhere. There hadn’t been a sandstorm when he went inside, that was for sure. He trudged out nonetheless, hoping beyond hope that his brothers, sisters and siblings were simply hidden by the winds. Perhaps using it as a cover to regroup before renewing their assault on the marked...but no. As he stepped atp[ a jagged spur of rock that had once been a pillar, the wind abated just enough to give a clearer look of the Qiraji ruins, and confirmed the sinking fear in his gut; they were alone.

Presently, he became aware of Relm calling his name as she stumbled up to join him, She had pulled a hood over her face as best she could, but her simple tunic was not well suited for the harsh weather. With a grunt, he pointed back the way they had come and started to guide her back to the same small ruin. 

Inside, Relm slumped against a wall and coughed the sand from her lungs. Shade considered doing the shame, but honestly he didn’t care enough. The most he did was remove his helmet and scrub some out of his short, messy hair. The itch irritated him.  
“So,” Relm began when she had caught her breath enough “We aren’t where we were, right? No way two entire armies could just. Vanish in the space of a few minutes.” She looked up at him, the cogs already turning “...Unless we just aren’t  _ when _ we were. Could have traveled temporally.”  
Shade grunted, then turned to spit some sand out. When he spoke his voice sounded scratchier than before, and he actually sort of liked it. “You really didn’t do that? There was a flash. Rift of some sort.”  
Relm eyed him “...I’d been going to ask you the same thing, but it didn’t look like any Deathgate ive ever seen you make.” She shifted a little, rubbing the marks along her arms “...Shade. I don’t know what’s happening, but...this is good. I’m not lying to you, I’m in control of myself again. The voice isn’t in my head anymore.” 

“...I want to believe you.” For the first time, likely in months, genuine emotion crept into Shade’s voice and when he turned to look at her his glowing eyes seemed to flare ever so slightly. “I do. More than anything. I want to protect you Relm that’s what I’m for. I couldn’t save you when you were taken before, couldn’t stop you from getting the marks, but…” He trailed off. The more he spoke the more strained his voice grew, the less effort he put into keeping it low and rough. He began to sound almost exactly like someone else neither of them had ever met. “...I came here to kill you, Relm. You have to know that. I was...I was  _ ready _ to. I failed you so all that was left to do was stop you from becomin’ somethin’ you would hate.” He shook his head, turning to stare at the ground “I’m sorry.”

Relm stared at him for a long moment, reached out, then hesitated. At last she put a hand on the heavy plate covering his shoulder. “Shade,” She said softly, “I don’t blame you. You couldn’t have stopped anything. If you’d followed me that day, you’d either be dead for real or marked too.” Then she dropped her hand with a frustrated sigh, moving to the entrance and staring out at the howling sands “...Damn the Brotherhood. You might have killed me, sure, but you tried to save me too. They just went straight to Plan Murder.” She scoffed bitterly “...As soon as this dies down I’m leaving. See if I can figure out where we are, what’s going on...what’s different.”  
“I’m coming with you.”  
“You- are you still not listening?” She turned to stare at him incredulously, sharp anger flaring again “You’re Brotherhood to the core, you couldn’t turn your back on them any more than I could cut off my own arm. But if I go back, they  _ will _ try to kill me. I need to go on my own!”

Shade was silent for a moment, then fished his communication stone out of it’s pouch at his belt “Compromise. We don’t even know that they survived. We attempt contact, find out what’s going on. You disguise yourself if it’d make you more comfortable. Once we have some information we can figure out what we’re doin’.” He glanced at her “But I’m not leavin’ your side, Relm. Understand that. Not until I’m certain you’re in control of yourself again. I can’t risk you still havin’ that ink in you and hurtin’ someone else.”  
Relm’s eyes hardened “So, what? You're to be my keeper? My jailer?  _ Executioner _ ?”  
“If I have to be. I’ll keep you safe. Keep others safe from you too.” Then he grunted “Or I can kill you now. Or turn you over to whatever remains of the Brotherhood. I’d rather not.”

Relm simply gave another irritated sigh, throwing her hands up “Oh, do what you want, you stubborn bastard…” and turned to walk further into the ruin, away from the wind. And at last, Shade allowed himself to relax slightly. It was a step in the right direction, at least. He raised the small stone to his mouth, running a thumb over a small indent in the side to tune it to the right frequency. A spike of anxiety shot threw him as he reached the Brotherhood’s and nothing but static came through, but to be safe he turned a few points further and was met with the soft, smooth tone that indicated a connection.

“This is Shade. I’ve been stranded in Silithus after confronting Relm, last I saw our armies were engaged in the Qiraji ruins, there’s nothing out there now. Please advise.”  
There was nothing for a long, painful minute. He tried again. “Brotherhood, this is Shade Wyrda, please respond. I need an update.” Another pause, and he had begun to fear the worst when tinny, distorted voice suddenly sounded through a rush of static  
“ _ Kkshhhk-s this? Who-kkksshhhhh-comms?”  
_ His heart leapt with relief but his voice remained flat and cool as he replied “Confirm, this is Shade. Looking to report in, who am I speakin’ to?”  
“ _ Kkkssskshkh-nt make you out, too m-hhhshshskkk-eet me at Tiris-kkkssshhk-fae ring.”  
_ _ The fae ring? Odd. He knew it well enough, but that was generally Relm’s spot.  _ “Understood. I’ll be there tomorrow by dusk. Shade out.”

He noticed Relm lingering at the end of the corridor, and he shrugged as he pocketed the stone again “Sandstorm messin’ with the comms I think. Couldn’t make out who it was, but we got contact. Gonna meet us at the Tirisfall fae ring tomorrow night.”  
“The ring? That's practically where I live. That doesn’t seem suspicious to you?”  
He shrugged “What are out options here, Relm? At least we can figure out what’s goin’ on. Then if you really want to leave, I won’t stop you. I just won’t leave you alone either.”

Something in her face shifted at that, moving away from the irritation that seemed to be her resting emotion and more towards...what? Gratitude perhaps? But then she shook her head and it was gone. “Stubborn bastard..”She repeated, and left again to find a cool corner to rest in.

* * *

_ On the other side of the world, the same one this time. _

Relm let out a frustrated sigh and dropped her comm, rubbing her forehead. She had no idea who the hell was trying to message the Brotherhood channel, but their comm signal wasn’t verified. Thunder wouldn’t respond to it, likely nobody else would. Once again, everything was down to her to figure out, huh?

She shook her head, hauling herself onto Hyde’s back and patting the massive plague bat affectionately “Alright bud...looks like it’s just the two of us for a bit. To Tirisfall, I guess.” The creature let out an excited screech as it bounded into the air. Relm couldn’t help but cast a quick look over her shoulder as the jungle and Booty Bay faded beneath her.  _ Just me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to note, the specific force behind Relm's tattoos, the Brotherhood's big enemy, and information on the Brotherhood itself won't really feature in this fic. The reason for this is they are all part of the origional story made for the Brotherhood Of Bloodmoon guild on WRA, and as such belong to it's leader, Thunderblade. I wouldn't feel comfortable incuding details about them when the story as a whole is not focussed on them, so they're only going to be included as vague background context for some characters, such as tattooed "Inky" Relm's powers.


	4. Now it gets confusing...

_ I had a dream last night, the worst part of you came to life. It was a curious dream, unlike any other scene I'd ever seen in my life. _

* * *

  
  


Sunny sprinted down the corridor, her entire world a blur of adrenaline and sweat and blind, animal instinct. The stone floor was slick with blood, and somehow she knew it was  _ her _ blood. It dripped down her back, down her arms, seeped into her clothes and somehow the tickle was more maddening than the pain.

_ Something behind me.  _ She skidded to a halt, literally slid along the sticky floor and dropped to one knee to keep herself upright, raised her pistol and fired. Into thin air. The bullet ricocheted off the wall and set one of the dozens of dangling chains rocking, back and forth with the ugly screech of metal on stone. Her nostrils flared, eyes white with pinprick pupils as she tried in vain to again choke the panic down.  _ Isn’t real. Can’t be real. You’re dreaming you have to be.  
_ _ Then why does it feel real? _

She turned and resumed her mad dash, unable to get away from the utter certainty that if she stopped, whatever  _ thing _ was behind her would catch up, would take her, would tear her apart inch by inch. She had to keep moving, keep fighting. But the corridor seemingly had no end, she felt like she had been running at full tilt for hours and not made the slightest bit of progress. Then-  _ is that real? _ Ahead, a door at the end. She didn’t so much as slow down, hurling herself into the cast iron and booting it down through sheer force of will.

...Another, empty corridor stretched out before her. Same blood staining the floor, same cuffs and bones and torn skin dangling from the walls. And it all hit her in one huge, overwhelming surge. She sank to a crouch, screaming in anger and despair, hugging her knees.

And then... _ what the fuck is that? _ Throughout the whole thing all she had heard was the panting of her breath, the thump of her heart, the wet slap of her boots into bloody puddles. But now, slowed to a halt, she could hear a woman’s voice singing, wordlessly, ever so softly over the clicking of a music box.  _ What...what the f- why do I recognise that?  
_ _ Why indeed. So many interesting little fragments, locked away in this head of yours. _

It came to her in what felt like a physical punch to the gut.  _ That song _ . Her mother. Her mam had kept a small music box, Sunny had been too young to remember where she got it. In truth she had forgotten it entirely, the lullaby it would play and her mam would croon softly to her as she rocked her to sleep.

She jammed her eyes tight, both to stop the burning tears, and because she did not want to look. She knew her mother’s body was in front of her. It was the reason she fought so hard to forget her face, because she couldn’t remember how she had looked in life. All she could ever see was that blank, lifeless stare. The blood soaked into her dress from the thug's knife buried in her chest.

She had been seven years old.

“You sick fuck..” She choked out around a sob, eyes still shut. She knew it was a dream now, at least, though that did nothing to kill the fear and pain it sparked. “You fucking  _ bastard,  _ that’s not for you! Get the FUCK out of my head!”  
Cruel, mirthless laughter, and then that cold, low voice whispered again  _ Oh come now, Sundavar. Always so hostile, so very rude. Have you forgotten? It very much  _ is _ for me. You are mine now, remember?  
_ “Fuck you...fuck…” she was practically whimpering, smacking the side of her head repeatedly.  _ Wake up. Fuck, please, just let me wake up. _

There was a faint sound, almost like the ruffling of feathers or the shifting of cloth.  _ Well now. What is this? My, isn’t  _ this _ interesting. _ Sunny felt a hand on the side of her face and her eyes suddenly snapped open, but nothing was there. Absolutely nothing, she was surrounded in a black void.  _ Mmm...let’s see how this plays out, shall we? _

* * *

Tirisfall had always seemed an odd place to Shade. The resting place of a fallen Titan Keeper, the gloomy pallor of death seemed to cling to it in a unique way. Fitting perhaps, that it had become home of the Forsaken. The light and even the air had a unique, watery quality to it, so that even at the sun’s peak the most one could hope for was a washed-out grey. In the evening as it was now, the landscape was starkly defined by deep shadow and shifting mists.

It was the sort of environment he’d normally feel relatively at home in, but tonight he was...not feeling himself. He stood at the edge of the fae ring -a circle of giant glowing mushrooms each at least twice the size of a human, and rumoured to mark the spot Tyr’s head had lain- with his arms crossed defensively. Ever impassive, the only outward sign of his anxiety was a finger tapping steadily against his arm, but for him that was about as extreme as pacing. He felt.. _ wrong. _ In a way he couldn’t put into words. It was a feeling that had only come over him in the last few minutes, so it was more than simple worry over the upcoming meeting; indeed,  _ anxiety _ wasn’t really a thing Shade did. In the past, certainly, but death has a way of radically changing one’s outlook on life. Typically, a course of action came pretty clearly to him; he was a tool. He had cheated death once, but to his mind the only decent thing to do with that was serve his purpose. He followed orders, he protected his family. If things went wrong, if he was injured, then he dealt with that. But there were so many variables at play here, things he didn’t understand. It was like trying to play chess with half the pieces. And blindfolded.

And then there was the  _ headache _ . It made no SENSE. He was dead! Pain simply was not a factor! Yes, he was still capable of feeling some from particularly grievous injuries but, a combination of dulled senses and regenerative properties rendered it little more than an itch at best, an irritation at worst. But, for some ungodly reason he seemed to be developing a full on migraine. It felt like an icepick was drilling into his skull, right between his eyes, and it was wearing his normally fairly even temper dangerously thin. That was strange too, the fact that he even felt irritable in the first place. As with everything else, his emotions tended to be very faint and dulled. Not always, but with nothing to spark them? This was ridiculous.

Even Relm’s pacing was starting to put him on edge, and he was about to comment on it when he finally spotted a figure approaching through the trees. He dropped his arms to his sides, standing stiffly to attention. “You’re here. Good. Brother Sun-.... _ what?”  _ he trailed off in confusion as he stared at the figure approaching him, who, at least, looked every bit as baffled as him. It...it was  _ Relm. _ No, not Relm. She was paler, scrawnier, her hair had a bleached white colour and her eyes held the telltale pale fire of a fellow death knight, though certainly not one he had ever met. But...her face, her  _ scar _ . That same crooked line, running from the center of her nose, under her eye to just beneath her left ear. He knew from the gasp behind him that  _ his _ Relm had seen it too, and was surreptitiously trying to check her hood hid her features well enough.

The other Relm had looked ready to speak before he had opened his mouth. Now she stood staring at him, and she saw her eyes flick to the tattoo on his left shoulder; a crow in flight, with its tail feathers wreathed in flame. “I... _ Sunny? _ No, you can’t be, but...gods, your  _ voice... _ ”  
He immediately stiffened and grunted, low in his throat.  _ Speak from your chest. _ “That’s not my name. Not for a long time. It’s Sundavar. Shade to friends, but. You...you’re not that.”  _ Gods, why did Relm have to hear that name? He’d never hear the end of- what? _ He shook his head sharply. Thoughts were... _ loud,  _ tonight. He reached up to remove his heavy, spiked helmet, and felt his gut twist another knot at the way Other Relm’s eyes widened.  
“You look exactly like her!” she blurted “I mean, apart from, from the stubble, how short your hair i a-and she has more tattoos- hers isn’t on fire- shit, shit i’m sorry.” She ran a hand through her hair and met his eyes “...Sundavar. I’m sorry. I just...I know you. Not...not  _ you _ you, I mean- maybe we should take this from the top. How did you get here?”

Shade shifted, glancing over his shoulder to Relm. Whether it be shock at seeing her undead doppelganger, or simply an unwillingness to reveal her identity, she seemed content to let him take the lead.  _ Fantastic. Because I know what the fuck I’m doing.  _ “Tried to tell you over the comms. We were in Silithus. I-... _ we, _ left the rest of the Brotherhood forces to neutralize a threat. There was some sort of...explosion, I think. We wake up in the same ruin, but the armies are gone.” He relented slightly and added “Honestly, I’m just fuckin’ glad to see someone made it out. Even if you’re….not what I was expectin’.”  
Other Relm nodded slowly “That would make sense...I think that you- wait,  _ armies? _ In Silithus?” though it scarcely seemed possible, her skin paled even further. “Y-you mean-”  
“The Caligrapher.” Shade confirmed with a sharp nod “Which is why, I’m sure you can understand, I’m pretty fuckin’ eager to find out what’s goin’ on. Truth be told, I didn’t think we stood a godsdamn chance, and no way two armies just vanish into the sands without a serious amount of time.” He took a shallow breath “So, is that it? We get shot forward in time or somethin’?” That would be fine. He could process that. “...Does that mean we won?”  
She winced and raised her hands, waving them a little in a placating gesture “...Yeeeah, not quite. You got the right idea but, you’re no time traveler. I...think you might be from another world. See, I  _ know _ Sunn-  _ Sundavar _ , and...well. She isn’t Brotherhood. Or...y’know, a guy.” Truth be told, the existence of alternate universes wasn’t as much of a stretch for Relm as it was for Shade. This wouldn’t be the first time she had encountered an alternate version of herself. Didn’t make it any less weird, though.

“That’s it!”  
Relm’s voice finally piped up behind Shade and she strode forward, and though the traveling cloak she wore hid much of her form, she pulled down her hood to look her twin in the eye. “Universes! I was thinking as much, whatever that flash was it opened a rift and...and..” but the words died in her throat and she stumbled back. Shade, following her eyes, finally caught sight of Other Relm’s exposed forearm; it had been easy to miss in the dim half-light, but now the markings stood out clear as day to him. Vines, thorny vines twisting into unnatural letters. The same as his Relms. And he knew where she had gotten hers.

Everything happened in the span of a breath. Shade reached for his hammer, holding it defensively between him and the, to his mind, impostor; Relm raised her arms to prepare her own magical defense, in the process baring her arms and revealing her own, much brighter and angrier-looking tattoos; the Other Relm’s eyes flicked between the drawn weapon, and her marks even as she took a step back herself, drawing her blades even as her face contorted in a mixture of fury and terror.  
“ _ You’re marked!”  
_ The same two words from three different voices. There was a second of shocked silence as the unlikelihood of their situation sunk in, and then Other Relm spoke up “You  _ stupid _ son of a bitch, she’s still inked?! And you’re just, what, letting her run around on her own?! We need to put her down,  _ now! _ ”  
“Put her down?!” Shade’s eyes flared with angry energy. He hadn’t felt this sort of rage in years, decades even.  _ How  _ dare _ she?  _ “She’s not a fuckin’ beast! He doesn’t have control over her anymore, not here! ‘Sides, you got the marks too, don’ you?”  
“And I  _ died _ to rid myself of them.” the Other Relm hissed. “Again. And even now, I don't fully trust myself. You believe she’s clean because what, she  _ told _ you so?”  
“Because it’s the  _ truth!”  _ his Relm practically screamed, shadows wreathing her hands. “I don’t want anymore trouble, I’m fucking  _ done _ ith the Brotherhood, but I swear to every god that will listen that I will tear  _ anyone _ that stands in my way apart!” she gritted her teeth “I refuse to be a prisoner again!”  
“You’re  _ already  _ a-”

But she did not have the opportunity to finish. Something in Shade snapped and he swung wildly, and all of a sudden the glade was a frenzy of maddeningly fast strikes. Undeath does fascinating things to a mortal body; even in life, the sheer energy and strength packed into a single muscle is astounding, but it’s potential is kept managed. Release it’s full power at once, and one might rip it to shreds, break one’s own bones. But the stories persist of desperate people accomplishing incredible feats of strength at desperate moments.

Being a death knight was a little like having one’s brain fixed in that state of desperation, permanently. Always prepared to use one’s full strength. Indeed, the dull itch of tearing tissue was a familiar feeling to Shade, but the same unholy magic that kept him moving was perfectly capable of stitching the tiny myriad wound right back up. Many tended towards rigid pragmatism in light of this physiological fact; they were already dead, wounds were relatively meaningless, so it made sense to throw themselves fully into a fight. Shade very much embraced this world view, and from appearances, so did Relm.

She was faster than Shade, but he had more brute strength behind his swings, enough to make her cautious. When every blow of the hammer came at her with the force of an Iron Horde freight train, it was all she could do to dodge. But dodge she did, again and again in a manner that  _ infuriated _ him. He couldn’t understand why it was angering him so; he was not a berserker. He didn't  _ get _ angry. But at the thought of this imposter murdering the woman he had fought alongside for years, whom he had more feelings for than he had thought possible anymore; well. To say he’d die first would be an understatement.

The screech of metal on metal rang out through the clearing as Relm’s blades dragged against his plate, tearing at his tabard. The very same Brotherhood symbol emblazoned upon it as on hers, but that didn’t seem to matter right now. If what this Relm said was true, then she wasn’t  _ truly _ a part of the same organisation he served. That would leave his own Relm as the last link in his chain of command- the last member of his family. And gods damn it all he would not let this false Brotherhood take her away from him! He let out a cry of rage alongside a backhanded swing, and he got lucky. The flat of his sledgehammer struck Relm across the head, not at his full level of force but more than enough to stun her for a second, and she staggered to one knee.

The light in Shade’s eyes flared, and for the briefest moment the image of his hammer cracking open her skull flashed through his mind. Then he blinked.  _ I’m not a murderer. _ He slowly lowered the hammer, taking a step backwards and glancing at his Relm, who for the most part had been restraining her magic out of fear of hitting him. “C’mon. Brotherhood ain’t gonna be a help to us. We should go-”

He was not prepared for the scream that tore out of the undead Relm’s lips. His gaze flicked back just in time to see a face contorted in primal, animalistic rage leaping towards him, swords raised. He was barely able to parry them in time, knocking her rolling to the side and causing her to  _ hiss _ like a caged beast before sprinting at him again. Had he had a moment to look, he would have seen a glassy, distant sheen in her eyes and been able to recognise this for what it was.

Sundavar was not the only one with scars, of course. Relm’s were less visible perhaps, less worn on the sleeve, so to speak. But being imprisoned and raised as a gladiator for much of your adolescence hardly leaves you unscathed. It was something she was largely able to ignore and confine to the shadows of the past, but the knock to her skull had shoved her head first into a pool of adrenaline she hadn’t known she was capable of making anymore. Relm wasn’t here right now. This was  _ Kiroore the Butcher. _

Now Shade was the one on the defensive, and he didn’t like it one bit. Time after time he caught one blade against his hammer only to have the other glance off his shoulderpads. He didn’t even have an opening to swing back, any time he tried he suddenly had another lightning-fast thrust coming for his chest. Loathe as he was to admit it, Relm in this state outmatched him. “ _ Relm! _ ” He finally hissed between blows, not able to look away from his opponent but trusting she would understand “Little help?”

Up until this point, his Relm had been looking between the two, frozen in hesitation. They were moving so fast and she didn’t want to hit Shade by accident. At his word though, that hesitation broke, and so did the floodgate of her magic. With a wordless cry she thrust her arms forwards and let the energy pour out towards them, aiming the bulk at her other self but unable and uncaring to separate it fully from Shade. Except, it wasn’t the usual shadows her void magic took. This was  _ ink _ .

Jet black ink seemed to spill out of her veins and rush towards the pair in a torrent. Oddly enough it seemed to flow around Shade, parting from him like water separating from oil, But the other Relm was not so lucky. In an instant she was engulfed in the wave, sweeping her several feet away and leaving her sprawled on the ground. Shade risked a glance at, a touch of panic in his eyes, but she was still there. The ink had already stopped, dark smudges dripping from her fingers as she panted a recovery. Her markings glowed faintly in the twilight, but in a dull, muted sort of way and as she locked eyes with Shade, he knew she was still in control.

The same could not be said for the other death knight. As the wave subsided and the ink began to seep into the ground, she scrambled back from them and clawed at the liquid still clinging to her as though it was burning. Her eyes were wide and panicked as they flicked back to Shade, recoiling from him. “She’s a fucking monster,” she hissed in a shrill, frightened tone “And you are too for protecting her! Don’t you see it?! Can’t you see what she’s capable of?!”

Relm opened her mouth to respond, but Shade lifted a hand and placed it gently on her shoulder, shaking his head ever so slightly before focussing again on the puddle before him. “I don’t see that. I see her in control. And as long as she keeps that control, I’ll keep protecting her.” His eyes narrowed “I don’t want to harm you or the Brotherhood. But If you try to harm us again, I  _ will _ kill you.”  
“You’re a fool,” she replied shakily, slowly getting to her feet but continuing to backpeddle “You’re a fucking fool if you think this can be controlled! You a-and...that fucking….inky  _ bitch _ .”

Shade didn’t respond. He simply turned and, guiding Relm by the shoulder, reached out in front of him to open a death gate portal. Traditionally such gates generally directed to a knight’s base of operations, but with some concentration they could be opened almost anywhere in a similar manner to a mage’s portal. He didn’t look back as he spoke “We don’t have to be a threat to you. We’re going to find someplace safe, and then look for a way home. Stay out of our way, we’ll stay out of yours.” And then he stepped through, guiding his Relm with him.

The shadowy gate evaporated once they were through, the dull purple light flaring and then leaving the glade in shadows once again. And Relm slumped to the ground once more, and sobbed.

* * *

_ Well now. Interesting indeed. _

She was in a prison. She was in a prison, except she wasn’t even- she simply  _ wasn’t. _ She couldn’t feel her body, she couldn’t feel  _ herself, _ she felt like. Smoke, like a wisp of thought, locked inside a steel cage. Except the cage was flesh and bone, just not  _ hers _ . And her thoughts weren’t her own either, they were cold and sharp and edged, booming through her mind. Not her mind.  _ His _ mind.

She could somehow feel Haestone was laughing.  _ Ah, I do enjoy seeing how a mortal mind interprets this, _ he chuckled,  _ some can’t, you know. Some just shut down from the sheer alienness of it. I suppose you have the advantage of being the same person. Of a sort. _

She wanted to scream. She wanted to swear and to yell and to spit in his face.  _ We’re not the same. I’m not him. This feels wrong! _ But she couldn’t. She had no mouth. She barely even had thoughts. Truth be told, it was all she could do to hold on to what  _ she _ even was. It felt like if she slipped, her entire identity might be crushed under the mind she was currently shoved into. She was vaguely aware her presence was giving him a headache, and she wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. A headache was the only thing she could exist as, like this.

It was like being forced to take a backseat while someone else controlled her body. Except it waasn’t her body. She was just stuck along for the ride. And it felt  _ horrible _ . One one hand, the body was recognisably her own, but it was  _ dead _ . It was cold. It felt numb but in an odd, painful itching sort of way. Each breath felt shallow and unsatisfying, and it took her a while to realise her chest was strapped down by something. Bandages? It felt like a lead weight pressing down on her.  _ Why the fuck would he- oh.  _ The familiarity made it all the more strange and wrong feeling. Even his thoughts felt like that, just familiar enough to feel almost physically painful to her.

And then there was Relm. She had to sit there and watch in horror as she felt her own muscles contracting and swinging towards her. Watch her hammer skirt off her skull and knock her flying. And then watch the sheer hatred and rage and fear that seemed to fill the tiny elf as she launched herself at Shade, hacking and slashing with mad abandon. She did everything she could, tried to pull her arms away or simply scream in her mind not to hurt her, but it was hopeless. The whole time Haestone’s voice seemed to bounce around her thoughts, not always speaking or even laughing but somehow always  _ there _ , like an echo. 

_ “She’s a fucking monster!” _

Somehow, those words cut down to her, and the dark chuckling resumed. _ Ah, such fire from my little bird.I know you see it in her too. Your sad, misguided little feelings for her. _ She wanted to be sick. She wanted him out of her head. She wanted out of  _ this _ head.  _ But, to think. _ The voice continued to float around her, until it suddenly felt like a whisper in her ear.  _ So much anger and hate, towards a man she has never met before. I wonder then, how much worse she must feel about  _ you.

* * *

Sunny jolted awake, gulping down air as though she were drowning. In a way, she felt like she was. Her hands skittered across the table for her knife, nails coughing splinters from the wood in her desperation until her hand finally closed around a familiar, soothing grip. But it wasn’t much comfort. 

She let her head sink back to the table with a soft whine. She was alone, so there was no one to see the tears that streamed down her cheeks in the dull, flickering candlelight of her room. It was getting harder and harder to stay awake. She tried, gods she tried just to avoid those dreams. Her pistol still lay in front of her, partially disassembled; she had taken to cleaning it almost compulsively as a way to try and fight off the grasping sleep. 

Her eyes slowly drifted to the half empty bottle of whiskey at the other side of the table. Drinking was becoming a risky business. It dulled the pain sure, and getting blackout drunk seemed to buy her at least a few minutes of peaceful oblivion. But Haestone was not one to give such relief willingly. She would pay for it. But tonight...had it been  _ real? _ She knew, somehow that it had been. But then who the fuck had that been? Who was  _ Shade? _

Slowly, reluctantly, her fingers curled around the neck of the bottle. Perhaps she could find answers inside it, if she only looked hard enough.


End file.
